THE TASMANIA N NATURALIST

mKreSCellS and Na1/1lOdythe1llis Dalei-are very rare; the former is ahout

2 inches, the latter I inch across the wings. Of the vcry large species,
Aeghlla brevistyla is common. It is a fine insect, brown, with green
and spots, and is over -l inches across the wings. AustrlJaeschlla
11111lti/,lIllctata is slightly smaller and more graceful, but black with brown
spots. It common at Zeehan, and should occur in all mountainous
country. Of the smaller species (AgrtiJ1llilae) often called' damsel flies:
one cannot fail to notice the two common but exceedingly beautiful
species of ischil1lm. i. heterosticta being bronze with bllle spots behind
the eyes, blue thorax and blue tip, while the tiny 1 de/ieat" has a red
body with a blue tip. Four species of '-cstes occur, slcn(ler blue insects
with forcipate appendages, of which L. a1/1/1I/(I'<1I5 is perhaps th" com
monest. It is blue with a series of sharply pointed bronze markings
on its body.
. In conclusion, I cannot recommend the vicinit), of either Hobart
or Launceston as a good collecting ground. Anyone desirons of making a
fine catch of these beautiful insects could scarcely do belter than seek
some large permanent swamp, such as Lake Tiberias, and, given a warm
'sunny day as near nlldsummer as possi[,le, he can scarcely fail to sce
these insects in swarms-catching them is not quite so easy! No doubt
also the West Coast, with its p;reat rainfall, would yield abundantly to the
collector, and it is in that district that one might hope to find new
species, if any such still exist.
.. d
to moulting tagoon, east
Coast of Casmania .
"(i\\N: Tuesday, the 12th November, '907, my friend, Mr. Ma1colm
. Harrison, and I started per Ss. 'Waldemar' for a trip to Moulting
'-Lagoon, East Coast of Tasmania, for the purpo,e of observing the
.,. nesting habits of the Black Swan (Chenopis allata) .. and also of inspect-
the Iiunierous lagoons and marshes in the' neighbourhood for any of
;"tbe' Rallidae family; as' we had been informed that several different
'ftipecies had been seen there at different times, and we' also had hopes of
. finding the nesting haunts of the various Crakes.
. . .bn the trip down the usual sea birds were noted but nothing of
';special importance was chronicled, and we arrived at Swansea at 10 1'.111
. i,fter a rather rough trip, very glad to have a good supper and a comfort-
; able bed .. We were' up betimes next morning, and, after making some
'<enquiries, we finally arranp;ed to drive out to Gala, the then residence of
iMr. 'William Calvert, ,yho had kindly arranged lodgings for' us with his
ihepherd, Mr. Radford, at Apslawn HOllse. After lunch we went for a
16
THE TAS:\IANIA:-l NATURALiST
stroll down by one of the backwatem on Gala, and there found oUr lirst
nest, that of the Yellowrulllped Tit (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa) with the
usual complement of three while eggs. This was soon followed up by
finding a nest of the Native Hen (Tribonyx 11l0rtieri) from which the
young birds scrambled out a ~ soon as we caught sight of them. This
was rather disconcerting as it pointed to the conclusion that, as to these
birds at any rate, we were rather late in the season.
After spending some time on the marshes witli only slight success,
we arrived at a point where the salt water of Moulting Lagoon met the
fresh water coming from the marshes, and a bright lookout was kept for
Rails, and our expectations in this respect were to some extent fullilled,
as on wading out some ten or fifteen yards from the shore to a small
patch of reeds, I disturbed a Lewin', Water Rail (Hypotaenidia
brachypus), who was quite as interested in me as 1 was in him, and came
up to me and stood for over half a minute within three feet, all the time
giving vent to a sharp croaking noise. 1 spent a considerable time
.searching for his nest, but owing to the immense size of the marsh here,
and number of likely places, failed to find any trace of it. The only
nests found during the time I was searching for the Rail's were a
Malurus' with two eggs, and several native hens which had lately con
tained eggs and young. We now made our way to the more open water
of the lagoon, and whilst we discussed our lunch we watched large
numbers of swans, both young and old, as they disported themselves on
the broad waters of the bay. We were also much interested in a small
body of pelicans, consisting of twelve or fourteen full.grown birds, one of
which flew across the bay and settled within a quarter of a mile of where
we were seated, which gave us a splendid opportunity of observing him
through the glasses. We also saw several swans' nests, one of which had
a swan sitting on it. This r ~ i s e d our hopes of being able to get a photo
of the nest and eggs of this fine bird, but as the nest was somewhat mer
half a mile out in th" bay we decided to leave this task till we could get
a boat which we had arranged for the next day but one. After lunch
we looked through some reeds, where we found several nests of the little
grass hird (Meglaurus gramineus), but as they were only normal we did
flOt disturb them. We then wended our way on to a small elevation,
from where we could get an extended view of the bay, and from there a
sight met our gaze which neither of us had ever dreamed of. As far as
the eye could reach there were swans in countless numbers, which we
.afterwards estimated to be between eight and ten thousand. On our
.return journey we saw bvo hawk's nests, one of which contained young
hirds, but as we did not see the old birds we could not identify them.
We also found a neH of Miner (Manorhina garrula) containing three
rather fine eggs, of which a photo was taken, but, alas, the plate was
broken in travelling. Nests of the Wood Swallow (Artamus sordidus)
were found j one containing two young and one egg, and the other con-
taining five eggs, which is a record as far as my experience goes of these
birds.
The next two days were employed in searching the marshes for
Rails and other wading birds, but with small sUGcess; a photo being
THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST
17
taken of a nest' of a Native Hen which gave a fair result. On the
following day \"le went round to the other end of Moulting Lagoon for
the purpose of getting a boat, and so taking some photos of the swans'
nests which we had located on our previous visits to the lagoon. We
fountl our boatman waiting for us, but were very ,disappointed when he
informed us that he did not think we shuuld find eggs in any of the
swans' nests which we had located, as, owing to a heavy southwesterly
gale a week before our arrival, most of the nests had been overturned
and the eggs sunk in the waters of the lagoon; and this we found to be,
unfortunately, true, and we did not succeed in getting a single nest with
eggs in it. But despite our misfortune in this respect we were amply
repaid for any trouble we had taken by the sight of the thousands of
swans which were congregated on that sheet of water, for when the boat
was suddenly rowed out frolU behind a sheltering point of land thousands
of swans rose into the air. The noise of their wings beating the water
was something to be remembered, and the sight of a line of swans more
than twenty deep, and which took over seven minutes to pass the boat,
was one which must be seen to be realized. One of the reasons why we
took this trip was for the purpose o ascertaining if the annual shooting
which takes place at this lagoon was endangering the existence of this
noble bird, and if it was at all likely to exterminate it. In my opinion
it would not do more than equalise malters, and would certainly not kill
more than the number of young swans which are annually reared.
Botanical note.
L. Rodway reports the finding of the rare little Tasmanian fern,
Hymenophyllum marginatum, H. et G, on top of Mount Wellington,
where it grows amongst hepatics in the crevices of boulders of dillbase.
6ame protection.
Game Commissioners. The Club took an active part
in a movement during 1908 to appoint Game Commissioners to
out the provisions of the Game Protection Act. 011 28th Sep-
a large deputation waited upon the Premier, when a sympathetic
given and a request made for a Draft Bill, which was duly
by a committee and submitted to the Government, but the
without the Bill being presented to Parliament. As this
important matter it should not be left at this point, but
up again at the first opportunity.
Blatk Swans on the Derwent. A letter was forwarded by the Club
, the Attorney-General, asking for the protection of the black swans at